Hello, Exiles! I’m back with my Path of Exile 3.22 Bleed Bow Gladiator build! Here I will review with you the skill mechanism, equipment selection and Ascendancy of this build. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Skill Mechanic
First, the versatile Bleed Bow Gladiator wields 8 Projectile Split Arrows, dealing powerful blood damage. Each bleeding enemy explodes upon death, wiping out everything nearby.
We usually spread its single shots across multiple packs. You can trigger a strong puncture with the new Snipe Support, allowing you to kill endgame bosses and get lots of POE Currency in one hit. When fully charged, this single blood will kill almost anything in seconds and end most battles with a Brutal Strike.
Defensively, the build is highly mobile and can easily engage in long-range engagements. It pushes a 4K health pool, has strong physical damage reduction and evasion, and has over-the-cap resistance.
The build’s gear is almost completely flexible, with rare POE items and uniques available. If you want to destroy the map with a satisfying blood build, then I highly recommend giving it a try.
You can use it to run most of the game’s content smoothly, such as Breach, Legion, Expedition and Blight-Ravaged Map. Even if you invest very little POE Orbs, it will allow you to clear endgame maps and Pinnacle bosses.
Build Basics
Now let’s break down the build basics and endgame skill tree. We’ll be running two core abilities, both focused entirely on dealing blood and scaling blood damage.
Our attacks will have a 100% chance of causing blood, a damaging ailment that causes physical damage over a period. It can apply multiple bleeds to an enemy at once, but only the strongest bleed effects will actively cause damage.
A moving blood target takes significantly increased damage from the blood. To ensure this damage works on static targets, we applied Ensnaring Arrow. This skill hooks enemies, causing them to move slower. Targets with this debuff are considered moving targets. Therefore, this skill is a must-have for every Bleed Bow.
Now, it’s important to note that in order for this to work, we cannot use any modifiers to pierce, chain or fork. For a single target, we can use Puncture associated with Snipe Support, thus turning it into a Channeling skill.
When at full potential, Puncture fires a projectile that deals with massive blood damage to the target. Combine this with Ensnaring Arrow in Ballista Totem Support and it will end the pain of most Pinnacle boss battles.
Ascendancy
Now that we understand the build basics, let’s discuss our Gladiator Ascendancy.
Blood in the Eyes has a 50% chance of bleeding, which gives us the option to use Chance to Bleed Support. But most notably, it also can Blind and Maim the target. Blind increases our dodge ability, while Maim reduces their movement speed and increases the damage taken by the victim by 10%.
Gratuitous Violence is an offensive skill that increases blood damage by 20%. Bleeding enemies you kill now explode. This deals 10% of maximum health as physical damage to all nearby objects, increasing our clearing speed to godlike levels.
Arena Challenger gives us access to this Challenger Charge. By default, you will be in Blood Stance even without this skill. When fully charged, Challenger buff increases our attack speed and movement speed by 20%.
Because Bleed Bow we’re using is considered a main-hand weapon, this node only gives us Frenzy Charge on killing. When Frenzy Charge is at maximum, we deal with an additional 10% physical damage.
Skill & Support Gems
Now let’s get started with our skill and support gem settings. Our support gems include Vicious Projectiles Support, Brutality Support, Chance to Bleed Support, and Deadly Ailments Support. Some of these powerful support gems come with some small, almost irrelevant drawbacks, but none of these really affect our blood damage.
Next, we got the single target 6-Link Puncture setup. Connecting it with Snipe Support turns it into a Channeling skill. Make sure to maximize Puncture gem level and quality, as both will have a significant impact on our damage output.
We can also use the 4 best support gems to improve blood damage. If you have Divine Orbs, consider upgrading them to Awakened level. When combined with Snipe Support, we’re able to deal incredibly intense blood damage.
Gear Choices
For leveling, I highly recommend running these uniques until you reach the map. Let’s start with the bow. Our ancient weapons should set the standard for maximizing physical damage. Sorted by physical DPS, limiting attacks per second can help you find cheap, powerful bows.
When you accumulate enough POE Currency, you’ll want to work towards getting the ultimate bow with the best physical damage. In an ideal, Citadel Bow would be the best base to craft since the maximum damage value is higher and the minimum base damage value is lower.
For our body armor, you can craft your own with Essences of Loathing for even more mana reserves. Since this is one suffix, you need to get the other 2 suffixes as well, and we cannot change the suffix. Then apply Chaos Orb to get your prefix. If you’re on a budget, you can go with Lioneye’s Vision or Tabula Rasa.
Our gloves and boots will be flexible priced rares that should have good movement speed, health, resistance, and spell suppression. If you have an open prefix, then Crafting Bench cannot be frozen as this is a huge quality of life issue. Any of these enchantments would serve our building well.
Amulet is the best slot for repairing attributes. You’ll also want a higher damage multiplier over time, some flat health, and flat physical damage.
For our belts, I couldn’t recommend a better, cheaper item than Ryslatha’s Coil. We can combine it with our new Volatility Support, and the maximum damage scales well.
That concludes this Bleed Bow Gladiator building guide. Follow this guide on your journey and you’ll be on your way to success faster. Good luck on your quest!
